Katrina Walcott’s successful submission of no case to answer leads to acquittal of man accused of assaulting Sir Iain Duncan Smith
Katrina Walcott made a successful submission of no case to answer before Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The application was made on the second day of a two-day trial, in which two others were tried and acquitted of Section 4A Public Order Act 1986 offences.
The accused was alleged to have assaulted Sir Iain Duncan Smith with a traffic cone on 4 October 2021. Sir Iain Duncan Smith had been in Manchester for the Conservative Party Conference and was followed by a group of protestors. The assault occurred as Sir Iain Duncan Smith, his wife and her friend made their way to a conference meeting at the Mercure Hotel. Several police officers attended the scene following the incident and arrested several protestors for assault.
CCTV footage was later obtained which captured the incident from a distance. A Twitter video was also obtained, which captured the aftermath of the assault and was alleged to show the accused. Katrina Walcott’s client was charged on the sole basis of on an identification made by a Detective Sergeant, who viewed the CCTV footage and Twitter video and made comparisons with the custody photo and descriptions of clothing of the accused.
At trial, numerous failures in the identification procedure and the weakness of the evidence were revealed. DJ Goldspring upheld the application, citing Katrina Walcott’s reference to the test in R v Turnbull and R v Smith (2008) as well as PACE Code D.
Among the various issues, DJ Goldspring highlighted the following as raised:
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The poor quality of the CCTV which made identification difficult;
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The lack of continuity in the Twitter video footage;
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The similarity of the accused’s appearance to that of another who was arrested at the scene;
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The failures to adhere completely to PACE Code D and lack of detail provided in the log;
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The Detective Sergeant’s evidence in cross-examination that he had an “honestly held belief” the accused was the assailant in the CCTV footage.
DJ Goldspring concluded by referring to Katrina Walcott’s submission that an expression of wishes, wants or beliefs by an identifying officer was insufficient and that the evidence was weak, “tenuous” and completely unsupported.
Katrina Walcott was instructed by Nicola Hall of Robert Lizar Solicitors.
Media coverage: BBC, Sky News, The Independent
